> Holy Kid: An Interview With Edwin Torres by Bob Holman > An Interview by Kika Pena

Questions from Kika Pena at Naropa University, Boulder, Co 1. Personal Bio (where were you born, ethnic background etc..) My parents were born in Puerto Rico, and came to discover the grand new land (Nueva York) in the early 50's. I was born in The Bronx, the first male in the Torres family. An event that brought my macho-fied father to his knees with pride. I have an older and younger sister, he was very strict with us but loved us. He died when I was ten in an auto accident. My mother raised us with a great degree of nurturing, support and balance. She remarried when I was seventeen, a great, passionate, Cuban man we all love very much, they currently live in Florida. 2. Where did you go to school( what concentration) Do you mean what degree? I went to Pratt University in Brooklyn and got an Associates Degree in Communication and Advertising….which really means commercial art, graphic design, etc. I also took some night courses for a few years after graduating. This is when I wanted to take over the world with Graphic Design. 3. How did you start in performance and who were the most influential forces in your work I was introduced to performance art…and then poetry, through the graphics of the Futurists and then the Dadaists. I saw there was another world outside the visual one, which was where I felt comfortable in. So I started writing things down, little notes for ideas, movie skits, then I made elaborate phone machine messages. Then a friend asked me to do a 'performance' for a magazine benefit, I said 'what's a performance.' He said imagine those messages I create but on a stage, with sound and visuals. It was as if a faucet opened. A waterfall. A universe. I found much of what was called performance art at the time was mainly monologues so I gravitated towards visual theater and eventually got into text-oriented work…and then poetry. My influences were Japanese Butoh, John Cage, Ernie Kovacs, The Wooster Group, the incredible diversity of New York City itself, and for that matter…growing up in a household where laughter was everywhere was very influential. Then in poetry, the Russian Futurists were influential to me for their play in language, Neruda and Paz for their lyricism, Wallace Stevens the everyman language artist, Gerard Manley Hopkins' rhythm and organic language-constructs, Paul Celan's pointed focus on the human condition, Creely's economics of language….the list goes on but these were my initial inspirations. 4. What is the purpose of you art. What audience do you aim to reach? I guess the purpose of my art is to create! Hopefully in that creating, there's a reflection of who I am…and then, of who 'you' are as an audience. A mere human being, trying to gain a foothold on the ground. This reflection encompasses the full range of human emotion and intellect, from absurd to contemplative. It's my hope that the audience walks away with a sense of possibility, freedom, some laughter and maybe tears. The audience I strive for is an open-minded one. As open as my poetry, my performance, my art....my heart! 5. How does your Spanish newyorker background shape your work? Music mostly. I heard music growing up and I hear it in speech. Rhythm in movement, in New York, in Spanish, English. When you speak more than one language, I think you become attuned to sound more-so than in one language. Because your ear becomes tuned to phonetics, so that the slope between languages becomes fluid. I suppose that informs a lot of my work, allowing myself that sense of fluidity in language leads to invention. Plus just surviving in New York is tough so you develop a quick wit or at least street smarts to cope…which filters into my writing as well. 6. Have you encountered resistance to your work given the social and bilingual content? Not resistance as much as confusion. As recent as 5 years ago there was a sense of wonder at how 'neat' it was that I used 'real' Spanish in my English poems. Times have changed, the Hispanic population has grown at an enormous rate, so Spanish is not the rare exotic spice it might have been before. Now, people concentrate on the sounds more than the content…as if one were independent of the other. I expect I don't fit into the expected traditional 'Latino Poet' mold….which is important for people to learn, not to judge on someone's last name, you know? 7. Who have you collaborated with and list some of your work and what it consists of? Many collaborators…which I enjoy because it expands my vocabulary. I've worked with a video artist and a poet to create a 4 screen video installation with 4 different poets' work….this was for a festival in Australia. I've worked with a painter, going to her studio and painting on canvases and other materials with her while her 7 year-old daughter is complaining because she's bored and saying dramatic things like "my life is dreadful, oh I wish I could die'….which I would then re-interpret into phrases on the canvas which would then get re-transcribed into poems later on at my keyboard. This collaboration is the first section in my book, "The All-Union Day Of The Shock Worker" (Roof Books). I created an opera-like performance piece with a dancer/ vocalist, and two musicians where although I had the story, text and direction worked out…I needed the collaboration of everyone involved to bring the piece to its creative potential. I most recently arranged a poem of mine into a 5-voice 5-language choral piece which was presented as part of a festival at Carnegie Hall. So collaboration works in many forms for me…I like how everyone's collective energy can bring a piece into heights unimagined….or sink it terribly! 8. Which piece do you feel is the most profound or important in your career and why? Well, I did a series of concerts years ago called Poets Neurotica, where I conducted 5 poets and 5 musicians into a sort of controlled improvisation with hand signals. It was sort of early in my career and they were a real chance for me to explore the sound of poetry and poetry with music. How sound works from instrument to instrument. I think this was an important step for me since I've enjoyed working with musicians and soundscapes based on this experience. My CD Holy Kid, was also an important step for me….working with studio technology to realize a vision of hearing. And then the opera I did last year, Gecko Suite. Which helped me see how to form non-linear structure while maintaining a narrative at the core. You can see I'm talking about performances. I don't know if there's one poem which could answer that since there are many phases I've gone through….however I'd say this early poem of mine, "Indian Hand Poem" was something of an accomplishment for me. Since it's an early piece, it's very honest and tender yet magical and filled with wonder and love…plus the fact that it works as a straight poem on the page but then comes to life as a performed piece gives it a special place for me. It's one of those simple, powerful pieces that emerge when you don't know what you're doing so you do it. Like a child, before judgement takes over…it has that clarity and focus that I've since tried to capture with varying degrees of success. 9. What separates you from the rest of the poets out there? I'm Edwin Torres! 10. Do you feel the performing poet has a greater impact on the audience compared to mainstream poetry readings/ Why? That's the sad truth isn't it? That performed poetry is considered non-mainstream! But when you can perform your work truthfully and with enough sincerity so the audience can hear your many voices and be transported into a memory of theirs or get lost in your imagery or rhythm leaving them with a presence of stage of mind of language as they leave the theater… that's when poetry's impact is greatest. When the vowels resonate and the air is charged. Which doesn't mean a 'performed' poem is all bombast and sulphur and loudness….it's got to be well-written and work with your personal dynamics. From the quietest piece to the loudest shriek, a poem delivered from the heart will always register. 11. What advice would you give to the upcoming poets that want to enter the performance genre? Learn how to write first. Then learn about stage and voice and microphone and lighting. Immerse yourself in theater but don't forget that the worse actor will bring the best poem down….and vice versa. Look into the history of performance and see what interests you but always ask yourself….why am I doing this? If there's a movement onstage, or if you have a question about a direction the piece is going in, see if it's true to the world you're creating and ask if you need it or not. And remember that the audience is there to watch you and hopefully be transported. They're in this with you, don't forget about them. Respect them and you'll get that back. I guess that sounds like I'm warning a child about the world. 12. Just go for it and tell me anything that you feel needs to be said that I didn't ask you.. Well…guess I feel like the focus in my work has grown over the last two years where I have a better grasp on what I'm saying and how to say it. My next poetry collection is a CD-Rom called "Please" coming from Faux Press in May. It's sort of a world created on screen which has text, video and audio that moves you from room to room. It was great working on it and seeing yet another direction I can explore with poetry, performance and digital technology. I could see a CD-Rom of Gecko Suite for example….so the possibilities continue. Thanks for asking me these questions, it always helps me catch myself and find out where I am and where I've been. I hope your paper turns out well and perhaps we'll see each other at some point. If you have any questions after you get this let me know. Okay, take care...hasta la proxima Edwin [ top ]